Motherhood

Last week, Jason and I finished all ten seasons of Friends.  Needless to say, I was crying my eyes out when we were finished.  I was so emotional about it! Partially because it was that time of the month, and also because I just didn't want it to end.  You know the feeling you get when you finish a really good book and you're just so sad it's over?  I always want to know more about the characters and what happens next, and at the end of the book I'm so heart broken that I can't experience more with the characters that I became so connected to.   

I mean.. look at her.  She's 46 and looks better than I will ever hope to!  I'm obsessed.

Because my "Friends" have been on my mind lately, I started to do a little research on my favorite character, Jennifer Aniston.  She has always been one of my favorite actresses, and it dawned on me that I don't know much about her as a person, I only know the characters that she has played.  I've always thought that we would be friends in real life if we knew each other, but as I searched the web, that was confirmed.  She seems like a kind, genuine person, and from the interviews I read, her humor is right up my alley.  I think she is great!  Despite the fact that she's on my husband's "list."

As I browsed the internet for accurate sources, I came across an incredibly interesting quote by her.  I was reading up on her divorce, and the poor thing had rumors upon rumors upon rumors being spread about it.  Talk about getting personal!  I don't envy all the celebrity's who can't seem to have anything stay private.  Anyway, there was a specific rumor that said the reason for Jen and Brad's split was her refusal to have children with him.  This is what she said,

"...I've always wanted to have children, and I would never again give up that experience for a career." -Jennifer Aniston

 That really struck a cord with me.  A lot of people in today's world say how much women give up by having children, and they even go as far as to criticize and look down on those who do.  I'm not going to pretend that Jen and I are on a personal level and that I know anything about her situation or why she has never had children, but I can draw certain conclusions from that short, but profound quote; That she wanted to, and that her career has gotten in the way of that.  I also believe that if she were to do it all over again, she would put motherhood above her career any day.  Unfortunately, you live and learn, and sometimes you end up learning things a little too late.

I don't thin that every woman should be a mother, especially if they don't want to.  I'm also not putting down those who choose not to have children.  Having children is a very personal choice.  However, I do believe that being a mother is one of the greatest, most noble, and incredible things a woman can be.  It's not something that should ever be criticized, it should be glorified.  When the time is right, I can't wait to be a mother.  To me, it's not a sacrifice.  I'm not giving up who I am or what I love to become a mother, it's what I am meant to be.

To all of you amazing mom's out there, and especially my mom (and my mother in law's), Thank you!  Thank you for choosing to be a mother.  Thank you for kissing every boo boo, reading us stories every night, listening to our troubles and comforting us through them, teaching us right from wrong, not killing us as teenagers, being our shoulder to cry on when the world isn't fair, and being our biggest fan.  It was an incredibly hard, and thankless job most of the time, but you took it like a champ.  You don't hear it enough, but we love you, and we will be forever grateful to you.  Mom's rock!  And I can't wait to be one.  

The One With the Winner and Mr. Heckles

Hello my pretties!  Jason and I had WAY too much fun with this little video announcing the winner of the giveaway! Watch to find out who won!

In other news, Jason and I live above Mr. Heckles.

Except, our version of Mr. Heckles is an old lady with a light pink bathrobe.  Apparently this woman has nothing better to do than pound her sealing for 5 minutes every time either of us walk from one room to the other.  You may think I'm exaggerating, and I seriously wish that I was!  But, unfortunately, it's true.

Yesterday, I was putting away laundry while Jason was at work.  You know, just your average, everyday activity.  Then, someone came to my door and knocked quite loudly.  I got nervous, because I don't know anyone in North Carolina yet, so I ignored it and just sat there waiting for whoever was at the door to leave.  The knocking started again, and again, I ignored it, willing whoever was at my door to go away.  Once more, the knocking started, so I decided to go to the door to look through the peep hole.  The only problem with that is, I'm too short to look through the peep hole.  So, I hesitantly opened the door to see a lady in a pink bathrobe.  She explained to me that I was being much too loud, and my footsteps were like elephants have been walking around in here. Talk about the last thing a girl wants to hear.. am I right?  I mean... elephant footsteps?  What am I? 500 pounds?  Anyway, I told her I was just walking around my apartment, and I'm sorry and I'll try to keep it down.  I thought that would be the end of it... oh how I wish it was the end of it.  Last night, when Jason came home and we were eating dinner and doing dishes, suddenly we heard a loud pounding sound coming from underneath us.  Mr. Freaking. Heckles.  We took a few steps, and the pounding started again.  Seriously?  We don't even have shoes on, lady!

Tonight, we had a friend over for dinner and we finished it off with Breaking Bad.  Guess who was tap-tapping (more like pound-pounding) away underneath us? None other than Mr. Heckles.  Has it stopped?  No.  I can't walk from one room to another without hearing that awful pounding.  I'm going crazy.  Anyway.... that's all the news I have for you... to be continued.

Congrats Emily Cooper for winning the giveaway!  And Thank you all for entering!  Stay tuned for more giveaways in the future!  Emily, please email me at sheree.otterson@gmail.com so I can get your prize to you!

xoxo,

Sheree

Smart Phones, Dumb People

As all of you know, I moved from Utah to North Carolina last week.  I haven't even been here for a full week yet, but my loneliness is apparent to me.  I am not an introvert, so being alone isn't my most favorite thing in the world.  I gain my energy from people, friends, family, conversation.  These are the things that I live for, the things that keep me going.  I had a complete breakdown the other day, and I could tell Jason's thoughts were.... 'uh.... what do I do?' haha it was like a cry fest, guys.  The waterworks were on, and they weren't stopping, no matter how hard I tried!  You know how when you're really emotional, but you're composed, and someone asks you "what's wrong?" or shows the slightest amount of sympathy for you, and you just lose it?  That's exactly how it was.  Even though I'm sure Jason felt a little helpless and confused by my sudden sob attack, he was sweet and comforted me and helped me feel better.  I'm so grateful for a supportive and loving husband! I'm also especially grateful for some of my close friends that have helped me immensely, and they don't even know it.  My dear friends Sarah and Kirsten have helped me a lot as I've been out here, whether it be a phone call or a quick text checking up on me, their support has been so appreciated, and it's little things like that, that make a world of difference.  They are so sweet and caring, and they are so helpful because they've both been here before.  They have both felt this loneliness, and they have been genuinely concerned about me.  Personal connection and authenticity is something that we are beginning to lose as a society, but I'm glad to say that I have friends and family that haven't lost that.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how truly flat social media is when it comes to the deep relationships that I have gained over the years.  I never noticed how much my phone has been hindering my relationships until I came out here. Between Jason being gone all day and me not having a job yet, and not knowing a soul out here in North Carolina, I have spent a lot of time on my phone (and at Target.) Me being on my phone is nothing new to North Carolina, it's been in the works since I even got a cell phone. I've become so reliant on social media to keep me entertained, that I have missed opportunities to get to know someone, to get outside myself, and see the beauty around me, all because I'm too focused on my cell phone.  It's a serious problem that I have failed to recognize, but it's real, and I'm guessing that most of you can relate. 

Remember when you were a little kid, and the first thing you did when you got home from school was rush outside to play with your friends?  When sitting at home was the most boring thing in the world and the question your mom heard about 100 times in the hour that you had nothing to do but watch T.V. was, "I'm bored mom!"  When you and your friends would go on adventures, get into trouble, and the neighbors always called your parents and told them how rotten you were being?  When the only games you could play were Uno, go-fish, and the ones that you made up with your friends?  This is the childhood that I remember.

Remember these guys?  Was your childhood something similar to theirs?  I know that mine was.  These kids are much different from the kids today.  Where did it all change?  It all started with Nintendo, and it has only declined from there.  Technology has over-run everyone, including children.  As I walk through the grocery store, instead of siblings annoying the heck out of their mom and running around the grocery store pretending to shoot guns, I see children sitting on their individual ipads, or even worse, their very own cell phones.  Sure, their mom can get her grocery shopping done much easier with quiet, well behaved children, but where is their childhood?  They are losing it.  They are losing it to games, social media, fake friends.  And what do they do when they get home?  They sit and watch T.V. and play more games.  Year after year I notice the decline in children playing outside, and it breaks my heart!  I remember being a kid and being able to run outside if I had nothing to do, and BAM!  Instant friends and instant fun.  We used our imaginations, we played games, we had social skills.

Now we are seeing more of this:

And less of this.

Adults aren't much better either.  

Instead of talking with one another, we exclude ourselves from people and conversation, and we converse online.  We're constantly looking at our phones, and we fail to see the endless opportunities surrounding us.  We fail to see the beauty in the world.  We fail to make those most important to us, feel important.  Lets turn it around, because in reality, we are both the problem and the solution.

Lets make our lives look more like this:

"We're becoming a generation of idiots: smart phones, and dumb people." I watched this incredible video this week that describes my feelings perfectly, I honestly couldn't have said it better myself.  After watching this video, Jason and I made a pact that we were going to put our phones away, and live in the moment.  I hope that you all take the advice in this video like I have. Our phones are meant to be our servants, not our masters. When you watch this video, I'm sure it will make you want to "look up."

V. Day

This blog has been in the making for quite some time now, and thanks to the lovely Rylee Blake and all of her genius, I was able to finally get a design that I love! (you can check out her blog at ryleeblake.blogspot.com) The inspiration of my name came from the French phrase, "mon cherie amour" which means, my dear love. I'm all about Love, and I guess I think I'm pretty clever putting my own name into the phrase. Anyway, since I'm all about love, I figured what better day to write my first post other than Valentines Day? I realize it's two days after Valentines day, but I did start writing this on Valentines day, so we will count it.

To me, Valentines Day has always been well looked forward to. No, I have not always had a significant other. In Fact, most of my Valentines days have been spent solo. Why did I look forward to Valentines day then? Well, let me tell you.

1. The Candy… Duh.
2. The Awesome Valentines Day boxes that I always spent hours making.
3. The hand picked Valentines day cards that I gave out to my best friends, crushes, and not so secret admirers. (you know the kind... "You're a cool cat!" or simply, "have an awesome Valentines Day! I mean... we don't want them to get any ideas, so we make sure they get the least flirty Valentine ever.)
4. The pancake breakfast with strawberries and whipped cream that my mom always makes 5. The cute little Valentine from my mom and dad… At least someone has always loved me!
6. Chick Flicks. Seriously? The best chick flicks always come out around Valentines day. And you bet your bottom dollar that my besties and I made a night of it!

 So for all you single people out there, take heart. There are way too many perks to Valentines day to be all "doom and gloom" about it. Some of my favorite Valentine's days have been spent with my best friends, going to dinner, watching chick flicks, and obviously deep chats, cause it's just not a girls night without one.

This Valentines day is a special one, particularly because I am spending it with my best friend in the whole world. He's also going to be my husband in 22 days...(now 20!) And I'm seriously so excited! But I won't get off on a tangent. I figured since it's a day of Love, I'll tell everyone a little bit of Jason and I's love story. This is the story of how we first met. It was January 7, 2013, and my friends and I were invited to a friends birthday party. There were going to be a lot of people there, and that meant that we could meet some new faces and make new friends. So, we went to this party, and when we got there we saw a familiar face and gravitated in that direction. This party was at a cabin, so my friends and I were upstairs in the loft playing pool with some guys that we knew. Then, some guys that we didn't know came up and… "Oh… he's cute! And wow… his eyes are unreal." I thought to my timid little self.

Luckily for us, these guys that we knew and the guys that we didn't know were friends. They introduced themselves and the cute boy with the pretty eyes told me that his name was Jason. So, as the night went on, we talked and got to know each other, but the party was big and the options were endless, so after awhile we split up to meet other people. At the end of the night, Jason and his friends were leaving, and my friends and I were still with that mutual friend of ours. Jason turned and asked me, "You hang out with Dakota a lot, right?" and I said, "um… yeah?" and he said, "Cool! Well I'm sure I'll see you around then."

 …………

 Okay… really? Well, that was being blown off if I'd ever been blown off before! He didn't ask for my number, nothing. Just a "see you around!" Oh well, you can't win 'em all… A few nights later, our friend Dakota invited us to another party, and we decided to go. Upon arrival, Who do I see but all my friends?! And that mysterious cute guy that I suddenly forgot his name.. oops. And you know what I did? I marched straight up to him, put my hands on both sides of his face, and got unusually close to his face with mine and said, "You're the boy with the pretty eyes! But I forgot your name… what is it? I promise I won't forget it again." WTF… Did I just do that? If you know me, you know that is extremely out of the ordinary for me to be that gutsy.. especially with cute boys. Of course he gave me trouble, but he finally told me his name. Again, it was a party, so we chatted for a bit and went on our way.

At the end of the night, my friends and I were with Dakota, and Jason had taken a picture of my friend and I with Dakota at the last party. Dakota asked him to send it to him, and I piped in and said, "Oh! Send it to me too!" So, he then asked me for my number so he could send it to me.

Guess what? He didn't send it to me. In fact, he didn't even text me at all.

However, I did see him pretty much every single day that week because I had become quite good friends with his friend group. Like all the other times, we would talk but nothing to show that either of us had interest. At this point, I just thought that we were friends. So, now that we were such good buddies, about a week or so later, I got a text from Jason saying, "Sheree Otterson what's up?" I am no game player, so I texted him back right away... smooth right? And not only did I text him back right away, this is what my text said, "haha hey Jas! I'm sitting in English.. Yuck. haha you?" Okay... since when did I start calling him 'Jas' like we are on a nickname basis? And why did I nervous giggle twice in a 10 word text? Give me the award for worst game player ever. Anyway, he asked me if I would help him pass out flyers for his friend's party at my lunch break. Since we were such good friends, of course I said yes and didn't think anything of it!

We met in the food court at UVU to pass out flyers, and he said that he would buy me lunch after for helping him out. So, as we passed out flyers, we talked. This was the first time that I had actually been alone with Jason and talking to just him. We talked about so many different things, and he brought up dating. He asked me, "if a guy asked you out, and you weren't interested and knew that there would never be a chance that you would date him, what is your opinion? Do you live by the one date rule, or would you say no?" I straight up told him that I'd say no.

I'm going to get on my soap box here for a minute. I have six brothers, and all of my older brothers have told me that they would rather a girl be honest and upfront with them at the beginning, because planning a date takes time, effort, and money. Not only that, but they get their hopes up that you might be considering dating them.. I mean, you said yes to the date, so that must mean there's a little bit of interest, right? Wrong. If a girl isn't interested and knows that there's no chance, most guys would rather the girl say no. There's ways to be tactful about saying no, but I think it isn't nice to say yes if you know you're not interested. There's my two cents on the subject.

Anyway, so, right after I told him my opinion and why, you know what this ballsy kid did? He asked me on a date for that Friday! It was a group date that he and his friends had planned, and of course I said that I'd love to go. So, we went to Costa Vida and had lunch, and we talked and talked for hours. I missed my next class just because I didn't want to leave him yet. We had found out that we had so much in common, and I was blown away by him. That little "trick date" that he took me on couldn't have gone better! And I couldn't wait to see him again. However, I was still a little confused, because I didn't know if he viewed me as just a friend, or if he was interested. I have always been "one of the guys," so I didn't know if he asked me just because I had become such good friends with all of them and they wanted to do a fun 'friend' date, or if he was into me. So, I will leave the rest of the story for another day. Just for kicks, Here's a picture of us on our first (second) date.

As for this Valentines day, I had the best Valentine ever. Jason left a pretty red dress and a sweet elephant necklace on my bed while I was at school with the instructions that I should wear it on our date that night. I went to his house and he made me the BEST food! He made an amazing roast, mashed potatoes, garlic bread, and asparagus. He seriously slaved for hours on that meal, and it was delicious. Then we went to cold stone and saw the new Thor movie. It was the best Valentines day I've had yet, and I can't wait to spend every Valentines day forever with him! I got Jason all ten seasons of friends and had a candy bar poster that related to friends and our relationship. Like, "The one where we first met," and then I went on and put candy bars and such. It was clever, I was quite proud. Plus I'm stoked, because I feel that Friends will be a good investment for our Marriage. We love Friends! Anyways, I hope everyone had an Amazing Valentines day! I know mine was.